Which Is a Better Investment, Essent Group Ltd or Hanover Insurance Group Inc Stock?

By Cynthia McLaughlin
September 02, 2026
Large versus logo comparing two stocks in the same industry
Featured Tickers:

Sifting through countless of stocks in the Financial Services industry can be tedious, and sometimes two stocks are just too similar to judge which is the better investment. If you’re on the fence about investing in Essent Group Ltd., The Hanover Insurance Group or Inc. because you’re not sure how they measure up, it’s important to compare them on a few factors before making your decision.

Read on to learn how Essent Group Ltd., The Hanover Insurance Group and Inc. compare based on key financial metrics to determine which better meets your investment needs.

About Essent Group Ltd., The Hanover Insurance Group and Inc.

Essent Group Ltd., through its subsidiaries, provides private mortgage insurance and reinsurance, and title insurance and settlement services to mortgage lenders, borrowers, and investors in the United States. It operates through two segments, Mortgage Insurance and Reinsurance. The company’s mortgage insurance products include primary, pool, and master policy. It also provides information technology maintenance and development services; customer support-related services; underwriting consulting services to third-party reinsurers; and contract underwriting services, as well as credit risk management products. In addition, the company offers title insurance and settlement services; and title insurance underwriting services. It serves the originators of residential mortgage loans, such as regulated depository institutions, mortgage banks, credit unions, and other lenders. Essent Group Ltd. was founded in 2008 and is headquartered in Hamilton, Bermuda.

The Hanover Insurance Group, Inc., through its subsidiaries, provides various property and casualty insurance products and services for individuals and businesses in the United States. It operates in four segments: Core Commercial, Specialty, Personal Lines, and Other. The company offers commercial multiple peril, commercial automobile, workers’ compensation, and other core commercial coverage; and professional and executive lines, marine, and surety and other, as well as specialty property and casualty products comprising Hanover program business, excess and surplus business, Hanover specialty industrial, and specialty general liability business coverage. It also provides personal automobile; and homeowners and other personal lines, including residences and personal property, liability claims, personal umbrella, inland marine, fire, personal watercraft, personal cyber, and other miscellaneous coverages. In addition, the company offers insurance products for collector cars, motorcycles, off-road vehicles, condominiums, valuable items, business owners, international, and management and professional liability; and for the construction, cultural and educational institutions, financial intuitions, healthcare, human services, life sciences, manufacturing, professional services, real estate, retail, technology, and wholesale and distribution industries. It markets its products and services through independent agents and brokers. The company was formerly known as Allmerica Financial Corp. and changed its name to The Hanover Insurance Group, Inc. in December 2005. The Hanover Insurance Group, Inc. was founded in 1852 and is headquartered in Worcester, Massachusetts.

Latest Financial Services and Essent Group Ltd., The Hanover Insurance Group, Inc. Stock News

As of September 1, 2026, Essent Group Ltd. had a $6.1 billion market capitalization, compared to the Financial Services median of $2.3 million. Essent Group Ltd.’s stock is up 6.8% in 2026, down 0.2% in the previous five trading days and up 8.53% in the past year.

Currently, Essent Group Ltd.’s price-earnings ratio is 9.5. Essent Group Ltd.’s trailing 12-month revenue is $1.3 billion with a 51.5% net profit margin. Year-over-year quarterly sales growth most recently was 13.7%. Analysts expect adjusted earnings to reach $7.559 per share for the current fiscal year. Essent Group Ltd. currently has a 2.1% dividend yield.

As of September 1, 2026, The Hanover Insurance Group, Inc. had a $7.9 billion market cap, putting it in the 74th percentile of all stocks. The Hanover Insurance Group, Inc.’s stock is up 24.9% in 2026, down 0.1% in the previous five trading days and up 30.23% in the past year.

Currently, The Hanover Insurance Group, Inc.’s price-earnings ratio is 10.8. The Hanover Insurance Group, Inc.’s trailing 12-month revenue is $6.8 billion with a 11.2% net profit margin. Year-over-year quarterly sales growth most recently was 4.3%. Analysts expect adjusted earnings to reach $20.384 per share for the current fiscal year. The Hanover Insurance Group, Inc. currently has a 1.7% dividend yield.

How We Compare Essent Group Ltd., The Hanover Insurance Group and Inc. Stock Grades

Stock evaluation requires access to huge amounts of data and the knowledge and time to sift through it all, make sense of financial ratios, read income statements and analyze recent stock movements. AAII created A+ Investor, a robust data suite that condenses data research in an actionable and customizable way suitable for investors of all knowledge levels, to help investors streamline and work through such data.

AAII’s proprietary stock grades come with A+ Investor. These offer intuitive A‐F grades for each of five key investing factors: value, growth, momentum, earnings estimate revisions and quality. Here, we’ll take a closer look at Essent Group Ltd., The Hanover Insurance Group and Inc.’s stock grades to see how they measure up against one another.

Learn more about A+ Investor here!

Sign Up to Receive a Free Special Report Showing How A+ Grades Can Help You Make Smarter Investment Decisions

Essent Group Ltd., The Hanover Insurance Group and Inc. Stock Value Grades

Company Ticker Value
Essent Group Ltd. ESNT A
The Hanover Insurance Group, Inc. THG A

Successful stock investing involves buying low and selling high, so stock valuation is an important consideration for stock selection.

Buying stocks that are going to go up typically means buying stocks that are undervalued in the first place, although momentum investors may argue that point.

AAII’s A+ Investor Value Grade derives from a stock’s value score. The Value Score is the percentile rank of the average of the percentile ranks of the price-to-sales ratio, price-earnings ratio, enterprise-value-to-EBITDA (EV/EBITDA) ratio, shareholder yield, price-to-book-value ratio and price-to-free-cash-flow ratio. The score is variable, meaning it can consider all six ratios or, should any of the six ratios not be valid, the remaining ratios that are valid. To be assigned a Value Score, stocks must have a valid (non-null) ratio and corresponding ranking for at least two of the six valuation ratios.

Stocks with a Value Score from 81 to 100 are considered deep value, those with a score between 61 and 80 are a good value and so on.

Essent Group Ltd. has a Value Score of 87, which is Deep Value. The Hanover Insurance Group, Inc. has a Value Score of 87, which is Deep Value.

The Value Stock Winner: It’s a Tie!

Looking at the Value Grade breakdown above, both Essent Group Ltd., The Hanover Insurance Group and Inc. have a Value Grade of A. For investors who focus solely on a company’s valuation, you will need to conduct further research into both of these companies’ other metrics to see if they could be good additions to your portfolio. It’s important for investors to analyze multiple factors based on a wide range of metrics before deciding whether to buy.

Essent Group Ltd., The Hanover Insurance Group and Inc. Growth Grades

Company Ticker Growth
Essent Group Ltd. ESNT B
The Hanover Insurance Group, Inc. THG A

The foundation of growth investing is seeking out stocks of companies exhibiting strong, consistent and prolonged growth that is expected to continue into the future.

In order to compute the growth score and assign it a letter grade, the percentile ranks for each of three components‐consistency of annual sales growth, five-year sales growth rankings adjusted for extreme levels, and consistency of positive annual cash from operations‐must be determined. These three rank figures are added together, and the sum is ranked against the entire stock universe to arrive at a company’s Growth Score to create an equal distribution of grades.

The companies in the bottom 20% of the stock universe receive Growth Grades of F, considered to be very weak, while those in the top 20% receive A grades, which are considered very strong.

Essent Group Ltd. has a Growth Score of 73, which is Strong. The Hanover Insurance Group, Inc. has a Growth Score of 100, which is Very Strong.

The Growth Grade Winner: The Hanover Insurance Group, Inc.

As you can clearly see from the Growth Grade breakdown above, The Hanover Insurance Group, Inc. has a more attractive growth grade than Essent Group Ltd.. For investors who focus solely on how a company is growing relative to other companies in the same industry, The Hanover Insurance Group, Inc. could be a good stock to add to their portfolio. However, it’s important for investors to analyze multiple factors based on a wide range of metrics before deciding whether to buy.

Essent Group Ltd., The Hanover Insurance Group and Inc.’s Momentum Grades

Company Ticker Momentum
Essent Group Ltd. ESNT B
The Hanover Insurance Group, Inc. THG B

Momentum grades help to uncover stocks experiencing anomalously high rates of return; research finds that stocks with high relative levels of momentum tend to outperform, whereas those with low levels of momentum tend to continue underperforming. Momentum is based on the price change of a stock over a specified period relative to all other stocks.

Typically, AAII looks at the weighted relative strength over the trailing four quarters. The weighted four-quarter relative strength rank is the relative price change for each of the past four quarters. The most recent quarterly price change is given a weight of 40% and each of the three previous quarters are given a weighting of 20%.

Essent Group Ltd. has a Momentum Score of 64, which is Strong. The Hanover Insurance Group, Inc. has a Momentum Score of 73, which is Strong.

The Momentum Grade Winner: It’s a Tie!

Looking at the Momentum Grade breakdown above, both Essent Group Ltd., The Hanover Insurance Group and Inc. have a grade of B. For those who focus solely on a company’s momentum, further research will need to be conducted into both companies to see if they fit your individual needs as an investor.

Don’t Forget Your Free Special Report on How A+ Grades Can Help You Make Investment Decisions

Other Essent Group Ltd., The Hanover Insurance Group and Inc. Grades

In addition to Value, Growth and Momentum, A+ Investor also provides grades for Estimate Revisions and Quality.

AAII Platinum Banner

Earnings estimate revisions scores take into account the magnitude of a company’s earnings surprise in its last two reported fiscal quarters. Often, surprises beget further surprises‐or at least continued sales growth (the exact opposite is generally true, too).

AAII’s A+ Investor Quality Grade comes from the ranking of key metrics. Specifically, the quality grade is the percentile rank of the composite of return on assets (ROA), return on invested capital (ROIC), gross profit relative to assets, buyback yield, change in total liabilities to assets, accruals, Z double prime bankruptcy risk (Z) score and F-Score.

These 2 key factors, when combined with the above, provide a holistic view into a particular stock. Further, by joining A+ Investor you can see whether Essent Group Ltd., The Hanover Insurance Group and Inc. pass any of our 60+ stock screens that have outperformed the market since their creation.

So, Which Is the Better Investment, Essent Group Ltd., The Hanover Insurance Group or Inc. Stock?

Overall, Essent Group Ltd. stock has a Value Score of 87, Growth Score of 73 and Momentum Score of 64.

The Hanover Insurance Group, Inc. stock has a Value Score of 87, Growth Score of 100 and Momentum Score of 73.

Comparing Essent Group Ltd., The Hanover Insurance Group and Inc.’s grades, scores and metrics can act as a solid basis to determine whether they may be a good investment or not. You’ll also want to look at your portfolio’s asset allocation as well as your risk tolerance and financial goals to see if either of these stocks would make a good fit for you. AAII can help you figure out which investments align with your individual needs and preferences.

Investors are encouraged to do their own due diligence and research. In this way, individuals can effectively become managers of their own assets‐without having to rely on others for financial independence. You can count on AAII for timeless articles on financial planning and stock-picking, unbiased research and actionable analysis.

A+ Investor adds to our qualitative teaching with a powerful data suite to help you whittle down investment choices to find stocks, exchange-traded funds (ETFs) or mutual funds that meet your needs.

Learn More About A+ Investor

AAII Disclaimer

We make no representations or warranties that any investor will, or is likely to, achieve profits similar to those shown, because past, hypothetical or simulated performance is not necessarily indicative of future results. Before making an investment decision, you should consider your circumstances and whether the information on our content is applicable to your situation. This information was prepared in good faith, and we accept no liability for any errors or omissions. The full disclaimer can be read here.



Find New Stock Opportunities With Included With AAII Platinum
O'Shaughnessy Tiny Titans
Screen:
23.7%
Annual Gain Since Inception. Data as of 12/31/2024.




Try AAII Platinum and get full access to
769.3% Stock Superstars Portfolio Total Return Since Inception
Compare to:
710.3% iShare DOW Jones
U.S. Index ETF (IYY)

SSR Group 3 O'Shaughnessy portfolio has a 411.2% gain since inception performance compared to IYY at only 119.1%% Performance as of 11/29/24.

Get your free copy of our special report analyzing the tech stocks most likely to outperform the market.

Download the FREE Report Here:

BECOME A MEMBER FOR ONLY $2

Get access to powerful investment discovery tools and a wealth of investment education to help you achieve your financial goals.